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Attus Navius
also: Attus, Atto, Navius
The legendary augur of the regal period who, to prove his art to Tarquinius Priscus, cut a whetstone in two with a razor; a stock exemplum of Roman augural authority.
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 10.8 §6 not those of our College of augurs from Attus Navius
Attus Navius was the legendary augur of Rome's regal period whose feats founded the augural tradition that Cicero, himself an augur, belonged to. Cicero pointedly grounds his optimism not in this Roman divinatory "College" but in Plato's philosophical analysis of how tyrannies collapse.
- On Divination §2.80 Attus Navius
The legendary augur who, challenged by Tarquinius Priscus, cut a whetstone with a razor to prove the power of augury. Cicero rejects the wonder-tale.
- On the Nature of the Gods §2.9 the famous augural staff of Attus Navius
A legendary augur under King Tarquinius Priscus (here Tullus Hostilius) who, to prove the validity of augury, used his curved staff (lituus) to mark out a vineyard and find a lost sow. The miracle vindicated the augural discipline.
- On the Nature of the Gods §3.14 the staff of Attus Navius
The augur's curved staff (lituus) of the legendary diviner Attus Navius, who under King Tarquin cut a whetstone with a razor to prove the power of augury. Cotta concedes he cannot despise this relic even while doubting how divination is understood.